


The Return of a Demon

by bookworm6570



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26613043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm6570/pseuds/bookworm6570
Summary: { sequel to What if it All Happened Differently }It's been 9 months since Beetlejuices dramatic exit to the Netherworld and the Deetz & Maitlands lives have calmed down and are relatively normal. But when the strange demon appears back in the house they have to trust their instincts and allow the demon to stay.How will their lives change with the demon back in their lives?Will they get better? Or worse?
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Charles Deetz & Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz
Comments: 97
Kudos: 27





	1. Return

As soon as Beetlejuice had dropped to the ground, Lydia stood up and, ignoring her father's protests, walked over to the demon. "Beej?" she asked, studying the demon's face closely.

"The one and only" he grinned, spreading his arms wide. Lydia's face broke into a smile and she took a few more steps towards the demon, raising her arm and then. _SLAP!_ Beetlejuice took a step back and rubbed his cheek where Lydia's hand had collided with it.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked with hurt

"Don't ever leave like that again" said Lydia. Then she softened and wrapped her arms around the demon, squeezing him tightly. "I missed you" she whispered into his chest before pulling back and wrinkling her nose "You still smell terrible"

"Thanks for the honesty Scarecrow," said Beetlejuice. He looked around at Lydia and realised she looked different from the teenager he left. "So how long have I been gone? Few weeks at the most, right?"

"9 months" said Lydia.

"What?" asked Beetlejuice. He stumbled backwards and tripped over his feet, his eyes widening. Lydia held out a hand to help steady him but she was pulled back by her father. Beetlejuice fell backwards and hit his head on the wall. His eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to the floor.

"Beej!" cried out Lydia, breaking free of her fathers grip and kneeling next to the unconscious demon.

Barbara walked into the guest bedroom and found Lydia sitting next to Beetlejuice, looking at his sleeping figure. She put the glass of water and cloth on the bedside table and sat down next to her. Lydia smiled slightly and glanced back at the demon.

"Will he be ok?" asked Lydia

"I don't know sweetheart," said Barbara. After Beetlejuice had collapsed Lydia had slapped him across the face and he'd woken up. He'd immediately started swaying side to side and Barbara had jumped in, saying he could go up to one of the guest rooms to sleep, seeing that he probably wasn't sick and just tired. Lydia had helped him upstairs and hadn't left his side since. "It's getting late, do you want to go to sleep? We've had a long day"

"I don't wanna leave him alone" said Lydia "and it's only 10.30. That's not late thats early"

"Let me rephrase that" said Barbara with a smile "I am exhausted and you look pretty tired too, I've seen you yawning"

"I still don't wanna leave him alone" said Lydia "I'm worried I'll leave here and dad won't let me return because he's here. And I don't want to leave you two to deal with his... antics"

"Want to spend the night here?" asked Barbara "The bedrooms always here for you"

"Will dad let me?" asked Lydia

"Come down and talk to him" said Barbara, standing up and offering Lydia a hand. Lydia took it and reluctantly left with Barbara, glancing nervously back at Beetlejuice. "He'll be fine, I promise. I think he's just exhausted" Lydia nodded and the two of them walked downstairs. Lydia kept her distance from her father but asked in a pleading tone if she could spend the night with the Maitlands. She had pretty good reasons too.

"You and Delia deserve a night without me" she said "and I can help Adam and Barb too. And if Beej wakes up I can control him best out of everyone"

"Lydia I don't know-" said Charles

"I think it's a good idea Charles" said Delia, putting a hand on her fiance's shoulder "Let her stay here for one night. Adam and Barbara say its ok and I'm fine with it"

"Fine," said Charles. Lydia perked up and smiled at her father. "Do you have stuff here?"

"Yeah" said Lydia quickly. In reality she didn't but she was too scared to leave in case her father didn't let her come back. "You two have a nice Lydia free night, I won't be any trouble. I'll see you in the morning" she quickly kissed her father on the cheek and gave Delia a hug "Bye guys!"

"Bye Lydia" said Delia, she dragged Charles towards the door "We'll text you when we want you back" Lydia nodded and they left.

"Right" said Lydia, turning to look at the Maitlands "they're gone"

"Bed now" said Barbara, lifting her head off Adam's shoulder. "Beetlejuice will be fine"

"Yeah" nodded Lydia, she smiled innocently at the Maitlands "but I sorta lied, I don't have clothes here. Either of you have stuff I could borrow?"

"Yes" laughed Barbara, she gestured for Lydia to follow her "lets see what I have"

Barbara couldn't sleep. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because it was 6.30 in the morning and she was 9 months pregnant. Maybe it was because there was a demon asleep down the hall. Or maybe it was the fact that she had a gut feeling that Lydia wasn't okay. As quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed and looked into the teenagers room. Lydia was sprawled out on the bed, all tangled in sheets, asleep. Barbara smiled and was about to leave the room when Lydia started rolling around more and kicking at the sheets. Barbara took a few steps into the room and looked down at the teenager. She had tears streaming down her face and she was shaking her head. Barbara gently put a hand on Lydia's back and the teenager sat bolt upright with a loud "NO!"

"Wow" said Barbara, moving her hand off Lydia and taking a step back "What's up sweetheart" Lydia was breathing heavily, only shaking her head and staring wide eyed ahead. "Lydia?" asked Barbara gently, approaching the bed again. The teenager looked at her and her breath slowed down a little. "Hey sweetie, are you ok?"

"Had a bad dream" mumbled Lydia, shaking her head and pushing her longish fringe out of her face. "It's fine, why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep" said Barbara "I was on my way down to the kitchen to get a drink"

"Can I join you?" asked Lydia

"Sure" they walked down the hall in silence, only stopping when they reached Beetlejuice's room. Barbara looked at the teenager and saw the longing look in her eyes "Want to check on him?"

"I think I should," said Lydia. Barbara nodded and Lydia opened the door. Beetlejuice was sitting up in bed, looking around the room. His suit jacket was discarded at the end of the bed and his sleeves were rolled up. His hair was a mess, all sticking up everywhere and he looked as though he'd just woken up. "Hey Beej" said the teenager gently.

"Hi Scarecrow," said Beetlejuice, slowly turning his head to look at the teenager "What time is it?" Lydia shrugged and looked at Barbara.

"Around 6.30" supplied the woman, leaning against the doorway "Morning BJ, sleep well?"

"I actually slept," said Beetlejuice in a shocked tone. Then he looked at Barbara and his eyes widened "Uhh, Babs? Kinda looks like you swallowed a planet"

"No" laughed Barbara while Lydia cackled "I'm pregnant"

"Oh" said Beetlejuice "Congratulations I guess"

"Thanks" said Barbara "Want to come downstairs and we can talk about why you're here?"

"Yeah" said Beetlejuice, he stood up and walked past Barbara, pulling Lydia behind him like a rag doll. Barbara laughed at the chaotic pair and followed them. 


	2. Morning

“These are good Babs” said Beetlejuice, taking a huge bite of the large stack of pancakes in front of him. Barbara smiled and thanked him, while also placing a smaller stack of pancakes in front of Lydia, who had pretty much fallen asleep again. “So… when did Sexy knock you up?”

“Beej!” said Barbara. The demon laughed and ate more pancakes. “Let's not discuss mine and Adams personal life at the moment. Bottom line is I am nine months pregnant and this baby could come any day now”

“Oh” said Beetlejuice “So, right after I left then?”

“Actually before” said Barbara “somehow the baby survived being exorcised” 

“Oh god Babs” said Beetlejuice, shock coming over the demon's face “I’m sorry. If I’d known I wouldn’t have told Lyd to do that, I woulda found a different way”   
“It's all good” said Barbara, coming and sitting the table next to Lydia with a glass of water in front of her “we didn’t know, I only found out because I was sick for a long time” she tapped her fingers nervously on the glass “I thought I’d just caught a bug from one of my students, because you know they’re young kids but-”   
“You teach?” interrupted Beetlejuice

“Yes,” said Barbara. Beetlejuice continued to eat. Barbara took a sip of water and looked at the demon “So, before Charles and Delia come and try to probably murder you, why are you back?” Beetlejuice looked up “You can tell me and then I can reason with them, because they are more likely to listen to me and Lydia than you”

“What about your incredibly sexy husband?” asked Beetlejuice “What will he do?”

“Honestly I have no idea” said Barbara, she thought for a second and came to a conclusion “He’ll listen” she said slowly

“I like your faith” said Beetlejuice, he finished his pancakes and looked over at Lydia, who was fast asleep still, her hand stretched out to Barbara. The woman took the young girls hand in hers and held it tight, rubbing gentle circles in her palm. 

“Mind you Beej” said Barbara, her voice going to what her little sister, Sam, called her ‘teacher voice’ which was just a stronger tone than normal. “You’d better have a good reason because otherwise I’ll let Charles run free and he’ll probably try murder you again”

“Sure Babs” said Beetlejuice. He looked at Lydia and sighed “Well I left you guys and went to the Netherworld. I was gonna actually go find my old man but Miss A found me before I could and all the ghosts wanted answers as to where Juno was”

“Miss A?” asked Barbara “Is that Miss Argentina?” she remembered the dead beauty queen Lydia had told her about.

“Yes” said Beetlejuice “So I had to explain to her what had happened and then the Netherworld sorta dissolved into chaos because there was no head and ghosts are hard to control. So Miss A and I restored order and it's a lot more fun there now, but it took forever. I technically was the next head because I’m Ma’s son but I gave control to Miss A, and promised to come help if she needed it” 

“That's good of you” said Barbara

“I was gonna go look for my pops next but I heard my name being called 3 times from this realm. Clearly it was Lyd. I told Miss A I was taking time off in this realm but to come get me if she needed me, so if a random green skinned woman walks in, don’t kill her. But when she asked me why I said it was because Lyd needed me and I wanted to check on her because I didn’t know how much trouble she got in because of our antics” 

“That was nice of you Beej” said Barbara, now playing with Lydia’s fingers “You know, you’ve changed a lot”

“So have you” said Beetlejuice “size wise”

“I meant personality,” said Barbara. Beetlejuice laughed and shrugged, but a few bits of his hair turned a light pink “you’re a lot more caring than you were, you’re good around Lydia”

“I wish Chuck would see that” said Beetlejuice “he just thinks I wanna murder him, his daughter and everyone else I can get my hands on”

“Well to be fair, you were a bit like that when he first met you” said Barbara “but I think you’ve changed into a better person, or demon”

“When are Chuck and Darla coming over?” asked Beetlejuice    
“Probably when we’ve deemed you safe or they decide to come steal Lydia back” said Barbara. She looked down at the teenager “did her yelling this morning wake you up?”

“No,” said Beetlejuice, “but I heard it, what's wrong with her?”

“She had a nightmare” said Barbara, rubbing Lydia’s hand gently “I don’t know what triggered it, she doesn’t normally have them” 

“Can I have her pancakes?” asked Beetlejuice, eyeing off the teenagers plate. Barbara nodded and Beetlejuice devoured the 2 pancakes that were Lydia’s. “When’s Sexy gonna be up?”

“Dunno” said Barbara, she looked at the kitchen clock “It’s only 7am so he might still be asleep for a while because preferably I’d still be asleep but my lovely baby says no” she sighed. 

“Are all babies like that?” asked Beetlejuice in a tone that sounded like genuine curiosity. Barbara was about to answer when her husband stumbled into the kitchen. “Sexy! Ay!”

“Beetlejuice?” asked Adam, rubbing his eyes and looking at the demon. Beetlejuice nodded and Adam smiled “Sleep well?”

“I actually slept” said Beetlejuice “which is rare so y’know, I liked that”

“Good for you” Adam still seemed a little hesitant around the demon but when he spotted his wife and Lydia he sort of relaxed. “Honey, don’t disappear like that. It scared me”

“I’m only downstairs” said Barbara, reaching her free arm out to hug him while her other stayed gripping Lydia’s hand. “Lydia had a nightmare so I decided to calm her down”

“Oh, did she say what about?” asked Adam. 

“No” said Barbara “but she went to sleep pretty much as soon as we got down here so it can’t be too bad, right?”

“I guess not” said Adam, he looked at the demon uncertainty and looked back at his wife. She nodded and gave a small smile. Adam relaxed and stood behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them slightly. She leant her head on his arm and smiled in a relaxed way. The kitchen fell into a comfortable silence, only breaking when Lydia started to wake up. She lifted her head off the table and Barbara looked at the teenager. 

“Hi sweetheart” she said gently “sleep well?”

“Yeah” nodded Lydia, rubbing her eyes

“Heard you had a nightmare” said Adam “wanna talk about it” Lydia shrugged “Wanna tell me what it was about?”

“Him” said Lydia pointing at Beetlejuice. The demon's eyes widened and he got out of his chair, moving away from Lydia with his hands in the air. 


	3. Dream

"Me?" asked Beetlejuice. Lydia nodded. She didn't look scared of the demon but wasn't offering any more information up, so Barbara decided to take charge.

"Hey Beej? Could you maybe head upstairs again? Just so we could talk to Lydia in private?" she asked "please?" The demon nodded and slowly exited the kitchen, walking upstairs. Barbara watched him go and then turned to Lydia. "What was the dream about?"

"Well I had a dream really early on about me stabbing Beej, which shook me up a lot but I managed to get back to sleep and then the dream I had this morning was Beej being an awful demon. He had you guys locked away in the basement, which I know you hate, and dad and Delia were tied up and gagged. He came towards me and lifted bad art up" she shivered but continued speaking "then he said 'here's a taste of your own medicine' and stabbed me in the back"

"Oh god Lydia" said Barbara

"It's fine" said Lydia "I know he wouldn't actually hurt me but I can't get that image out of my head"

"I bet" said Adam, he ran his hand through his hair. "What do you want to do? I dunno if he'd understand"

"He's become a lot more understanding honey" said Barbara "more than you'd expect, but I do think the information could affect him. How about we just tell him not to mention it and focus on convincing Charles to not murder him"

"Good idea" said Lydia, showing the couple her phone "because he's coming over with Delia in 5, if its ok with you guys" Adam nodded and Barbara stood up, saying she was going to put on more decent clothing. "It's just dad and Delia" said Lydia "they've seen you in pyjamas before"

"I want a jumper though" said Barbara "I feel a little exposed"

"Well you look beautiful no matter what you wear" said Adam. Lydia groaned a little and out her head on the table.

"Belch, you two gotta stop being so cute" she said. Barbara patted Lydia on the back and walked off in search of her favourite hoodie of Adams, only to realise he was wearing it. Sighing, she decided she'd have to settle for her second favourite hoodie, one of her dad's old ones. Most of them were back at her mother's house but this one she kept with her because it reminded her of her happy times with her dad. Just as she'd picked up the hoodie, the doorbell rang and she walked over to it.

"Delia, Charles" she said happily, opening the door and letting the two adults inside "How are you two?"

"We're fine" said Charles "where's Lydia and where is _he_?" the man was looking around the room with his shoulders tense.

"Here dad" said Lydia, emerging from the kitchen with Adam. Charles visibly relaxed and walked over to his daughter, taking her into his arms and hugging her tightly. "Too tight" the teenager said in a muffled voice.

"Sorry" said Charles, he released her and she went to go stand next to Barbara "Was she any trouble?"

"Oh yeah" said Adam in an over dramatic voice "she was awful, so rowdy and rude" Lydia fake glared at him and he put a hand on her shoulder "joking, she was an angel, as always"

"Not the best way to describe me" mumbled Lydia. Charles' tense stature was ruining the relaxed vibe of the room so Delia decided to intervene.

"Where is Beetlejuice?" she asked, placing a hand on her fiance's shoulder "because we'd like to sort everything out sooner rather than later"

"Of course" said Barbara, she looked at her husband "want to go get him honey?"

"Will he kiss me?" asked Adam

"I'll go with you" said Lydia, "I can control him" Barbara nodded and the pair walked upstairs in silence, leaving the 3 adults alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was sorta just a filler chapter, sorry! But I am curious as to what you guys would be interested in seeing in this book. I have some ideas but I'd be more than happy to take suggestions. Thanks for reading!!!


	4. Allowed to stay

“What's Lydia wearing?” asked Charles, watching his daughter go upstairs “I don’t recognise that”

“Uhh, think they’re my old sweatpants and one of our old shirts, not sure who’s” said Barbara. Charles raised an eyebrow. “I think it was probably originally Adam’s but I adopted it” Delia giggled. “I should probably tell you this, but don’t freak out,” said Barbara. 

“What?” asked Charles

“Lydia had a nightmare about Beetlejuice last night” Charles got a look in his eyes and Barbara knew it couldn’t be good “It was nothing too serious, I’ll let her explain but I thought I should tell you just because she probably wouldn’t tell you. Maybe don’t bring it up with her because she’ll be mad that I told you” Charles nodded and looked behind Barbara, where Beetlejuice, Adam and Lydia had come back downstairs. 

“Chuck!” said Beetlejuice “Darlia” 

“Beetlejuice, would you like to tell them what you told me?” asked Barbara, taking Adam’s hand as he stood next to her. The demon nodded and launched into his song, actually telling the same thing he’d told Barbara. Adam listened to the story with interest while absentmindedly fiddling with her wedding ring. It was a habit he’d picked up when she had a broken arm. She’d be in a lot of pain with her right arm and he’d hold her left hand tightly in his, just twisting the ring around her finger and fiddling with it. She’d come to realise that this action calmed both of them down. 

“And so yeah” concluded the demon, clapping his hands together and looking around the room “That's why I’m here”

“Why did you collapse when you arrived?” asked Charles

“Well, it takes a lot of energy to travel from the depths of the Netherworld to here, and also when Lyd told me how long it’d been it kinda shocked me” he shrugged and looked directly at Charles “So you gonna chuck me out Chuck?”

“Not yet” said the man after a long and awkward pause “But if you are going to be living around here, with either of our families, and probably us for now because the Maitlands deserve a break” he looked at the couple, who smiled back “we will need to set some ground rules down”

“Right” nodded the demon. Lydia disappeared into the kitchen for 2 seconds and came back with her notebook in hand and a pen. “What?”

“Give me rules and I’ll write them down,” she said. The adults nodded and started to list off rules and suggestions to the teenager, who scribbled them down. Beetlejuice sat back and tried to listen to them but tuned out and was only pulled back to reality by Barbara coughing at him. “Right Beej, here are the base rules for now

  * _So killing, murder or injuring anyone in any sort of way_


  * Respect boundaries 


  * Manners 


  * Consider other people's feelings 


  * No kissing or any sort of sexual language or movement towards anyone (especially Adam)



Got it?” asked Lydia, looking at the demon “There will be more but for now please remember them or else I won’t be able to see you”

“You got it Lyd” said Beetlejuice “Now, we have some catching up to do, correct?” the teenager nodded and looked at her parents. 

“Are we allowed to go upstairs?” she looked at Barbara “I promise I won’t break anything”

“Yes” said Barbara “but keep the door open and only catching up. No planning anything of any sorts” the pair nodded and walked up the steps to the upstairs area. Barbara turned to Charles and Delia and smiled “It was good of you to let him stay”

“He will help Lydia” said Charles “or at least I think he will”

“He returned to see her” said Delia “I think that he’ll be fine, it might take a few weeks or longer for him to adjust but I fully believe he’ll be fine” 

“You know Charles” said Barbara, looking at the man with a smile “I expected you to be a lot harder to convince” Delia and Adam nodded in agreement.    
“I want to do what's best for Lydia” said Charles “and if that demon makes her happy, which he does, then I’ll allow him to stay, but if he puts any of us in danger or harms her in anyway, he’s gone” 

“I agree with that,” said Delia, patting Charles on the shoulder. She then looked at Adam and Barbara “So, what will you guys do about the baby and him being here?”

“He’s changed,” said Barbara slowly “a lot more than you might think. He’s more aware of feelings and I think you’ll realise that too after a few days” she looked at her husband “I trust him, so he won’t be banned from seeing our kid, but we’ll supervise him” she looked at Charles “And as you said, if he hurts any one in any way, there will be consequences” 

“Right Beej, you’re going home with Lydia, Delia and Charles” said Barbara, looking at the demon, who was cuddled up on their couch with Lydia “is that ok?”

“Yeah” nodded Beetlejuice 

“No funny business. No chaos. No pranks. No using powers, okay?” Barbara was again using her ‘teacher voice’. “Just going back nicely, listening to them and going to sleep. In the morning I’ll be hearing everything that happened, good and bad”   
“You got it Babs” he got up and patted her on the shoulder “See you around” he nodded his head in farewell to Adam and walked out the house, closely followed by Charles and Delia. Lydia lingered for a second longer to say goodbye to Adam and Barbara before running off back home too. 

Because it’d been a long day for both of them, the Maitlands decided to have an early night. Barbara went up first to take a shower and Adam locked up the house. Then he went upstairs and got changed into his pyjamas before going into the bathroom. Barbara was still in the shower and he quickly brushed his teeth and headed back to bed. Barbara got out of the shower and came to bed 5 minutes later. Adam was reading and Barbara snuggled into his side, scrolling through her phone and messaging her mum. Half an hour later, Adam realised his wife had fallen asleep and gently took her phone away and put it to the side, doing the same with his book and turning the light off. Barbara had her head resting on his chest and he kept a secure arm around her waist and stomach. Barbara briefly lifted her head up to kiss him on the cheek before going back to sleep and Adam soon followed. 


	5. Comfort

Barbara was awake early the next morning and was downstairs watching a show on TV when there was the sound of a key turning in the lock. Her eyes widening, she slowly sunk into the couch and prayed it was her ears playing tricks on her. However when the door creaked open her heart rate sped up and she cursed herself for leaving her phone on the coffee table next to her. The door quietly shut and Barbara heard a sniffling noise. Carefully and slowly she lifted her head up and saw Lydia standing in the doorway, in her pyjamas and in tears. 

“Lydia?” asked Barbara. The teenager jumped and looked at Barbara. With her facing towards her, Barbara could see the teenager fully. There were tears running down her face and she looked exhausted. “God are you ok sweetie?”

“I had the same nightmare” said Lydia “sorry for scaring you, I just needed to get out of the house and I feel safe here” 

“Come here” said Barbara, opening her arms out. Lydia walked over to her and sat next to her. Barbara wrapped her arms around the teenager and Lydia leant into the embrace. “So it was the same dream as last night?” she asked after Lydia’s shaking and lessened. 

“Yeah” nodded the teenager “the exact same”

“Sweet heart that's awful” said Barbara, hugging her tightly “I’m so sorry” Lydia shrugged her apology off, not wanting pity but wishing the hug could continue forever. “Was it Beej who triggered it do you think?”

“It must be” said Lydia “I saw the place where  _ it _ happened and I just couldn’t cope. There’s still a small stain there, dad hasn’t been able to get rid of it. But it doesn’t seem to bug him, he just grimaces at it and talks about getting it re-floored.”

“I know how you feel,” said Barbara. She glanced over at the spot by the stairs “stand up and walk towards the stairs, I’ll tell you when to stop” Lydia gave her a questioning look but did as Barbara said. “Stop” said Barbara once she’d reached the spot. Lydia raised an eyebrow and looked at her “Do you feel anything when you stand there? Any fear?”

“No” said Lydia, “It feels like a floor”

“That was where Adam and I fell through the floor” said Barbara, Lydia’s eyes widened and she shifted uncomfortably. “See before you didn’t know what happened there is didn’t affect you at all, but know you know you might feel uncomfortable but it won’t affect you the way it affects us”

“What do you mean?” asked Lydia, walking back towards Barbara and sitting on the couch next to her 

“Well whenever I go past it, I jump over it. Adam just goes around it but we both make a point not to avoid it at all costs” Lydia nodded slowly “get what I’m saying?”

“Because I actually stabbed Beej there and am therefore responsible for the blood being there and have the traumatic experience of killing someone I am affected more than my dad who just witnessed it. Like you and Adam, you guys had the experience of the floor randomly just giving in on you, so you can’t stand there because a small part of you believes it will happen again, but someone who doesn’t know what happened won’t be affected and even though I now know I will probably only vaguely register what happened there because it hasn’t actually happened to me”

“Yes” said Barbara “that was a bit all over the place but you got it” 

“That actually makes sense” said Lydia “Thanks” 

“You’re welcome sweetheart” said Barbara, she reached over and grabbed her phone “now, how about we message your father and Delia and let them know you’re here before they have heart attacks”

“They don't care” said Lydia 

“I doubt that” said Barbara, typing away on her phone “They care about you a lot, both of them. Just like Adam and I do, we all care about you. And BJ does too, even though he may have weird ways of showing it. I know you and your dad went through a rough patch and everything but I can tell your relationship with him has strengthened and I think you him and Delia are like a proper family now” 

“Well you two have helped” said Lydia “dad says it all the time, I probably shouldn’t have told you that because he wants to be the tough guy but you have helped him. You, Delia and Adam have really helped us with coping with mums passing” Barbara smiled 

“Well, I guess we’ve all helped each other knowingly and unknowingly” she glanced at the time “It’s still fairly early, wanna try to sleep again or just watch this with me?”

“I’m always down to watch The Office” said Lydia. She grabbed a blanket and curled up with Barbara. The teenager fell asleep after 20 minutes, just as Barbara received a message from Charles thanking her for looking after Lydia. Adam came downstairs 10 minutes after that and looked questioningly at Lydia. 

“She had another nightmare” said Barbara quietly “Charles and Delia know, and she’s fine now” Adam nodded and sat at the end of the couch, lifting Barbara’s legs onto his lap. Barbara smiled and felt Lydia stretch her legs out there too. “So, which episode were we up to?” 

“Uhh, Season 8 episode 7” said Adam, he grabbed the TV remote from her and played the episode. Barbara relaxed and watched the show while Adam rubbed her feet. 

3 episodes later, the relaxed feeling in the room was broken by the appearance of a certain demon. Beetlejuice appeared with a loud bang which woke Lydia up. She looked around and grinned at her best friend. 

“Scarecrow you disappeared,” said Beetlejuice. Lydia nodded and yawned “Why’d you go?”

“No reason” said Lydia, then she giggled because she felt something touching her foot “Adam, that tickles”

“What?” said the man, his hands covered up by the blanket “what am I doing?” he started tickling her feet more. She squealed and rolled off the couch to escape him. She crawled towards Beetlejuice and stood up, still giggling a little bit. Adam smirked and grabbed his wife’s feet. Barbara raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned back. 

“Adam” she said in a warning tone. He looked at her innocently “Don’t you dare” Adam smiled and started rubbing her feet. She smiled at him and looked at her phone. Charles had messaged her asking if they wanted to come over to theirs with Lydia for breakfast, and if they’d seen Beetlejuice.”Ad, Charles has invited us over for breakfast”

“Yum” said Lydia “dad can actually make a pretty decent breakfast”

“So I’ll say yes?” asked Barbara. Lydia nodded frantically and Adam laughed. “Okay, Lydia, you want to go back home with Beej and we’ll join you once I’m dressed?”

“I’ll just chill here” said Lydia “I thought of another rule I wanna explain to him, don’t worry it’s a good rule” Barbara nodded and walked upstairs with Adam. 


	6. Manners

“Okay Beej” said Lydia, sitting down next to Barbara “It’s just us, we’re going to teach you about manners” the demon nodded and looked at them unseeingly “Beej? Are you listening?” asked Lydia, waving her hand in front of his face

“Hmm?” the demon shook his head and looked at Lydia “Sorry, this is boring”

“Well can you please listen?” asked Lydia, getting frustrated. Beetlejuice nodded but kept on staring into the distance. Lydia huffed and looked at Barbara, who smiled and put an arm around the teenagers shoulders.

“I got this” she whispered. Lydia nodded and laid her head on Barbara’s shoulder. “Beej, what would you say if someone was blocking the doorway and you wanted to get through?”

“Move”

“And what would you say if you wanted me to pass you this pillow?”

“Gimme that pillow Babs”

“Right, and what would you say if I passed you that pillow?”

“Thanks” mumbled the demon, picking at his nail polish. Barbara nodded and thought for a second before standing up and poking her head into the backyard and calling her her husband. Adam appeared a second later and the pair walked back to Lydia and Beetlejuice with their arms around each other. “Hiya Sexy, what are you doing?”  
“Beej, we’re going to teach you manners' said Barbara, she gestured for the demon and teen to follow them and they walked to the kitchen. While walking, Barbara whispered her idea to Adam and he nodded in agreement. Lydia went through the kitchen doorway but Adam and Barbara stood in the doorway, blocking Beetlejuice’s way.

“Uhh, guys?” he asked. They ignored him, wanting him to use manners “Can you move?” he asked

“Could you ask that in a different way Beej?” asked Barbara, leaning against Adam and looking at the demon. Tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy and Barbara laughed lightly “I mean manners Beej, could you ask that more politely please?”

“Oh uhh…” the demon shuffled nervously on the spot for a minute before standing up straight “Could you please move Babs?” Barbara smiled proudly and she and Adam moved. Beetlejuice shuffled into the kitchen and sat at the table. “Why do I need to use manners?” he asked.

“Because” said Barbara, “It is more polite to others and it sounds nicer” the demon still looked confused and Barbara thought “Well, let me use this as an example” she looked over at her husband “Which one sounds better. Get me a glass of water or Adam could you please get me a glass of water?”

“The second one” said Beetlejuice

“Correct” said Barbara

“But it takes more time and more words” said Beetlejuice. Barbara laughed lightly and looked at the demon with a smile.

“It may take more time Beej, but it makes everyone feel happier when you use manners” that seemed to get through to the demon. He looked around the kitchen thoughtfully for a moment before looking at Barbara and speaking slowly.

“So if I use manners, I’ll make people happier?” Barbara nodded and Beetlejuice smiled “Okay, I’ll use manners now because I want to make people happy and not sad”

“Good idea Beej” said Barbara, she patted him lightly on the shoulder “I’m proud of you”

“Thanks Babs” he said shyly, ducking his head. Barbara smiled and walked over to Adam, whispering something in his ear. Adam nodded and Barbara looked back at Beetlejuice.

“So Beej, just a couple of things. We’re going over to Charles and Delia’s because we’re having afternoon tea with them. Adam and I want you-”

“Me too!” said Lydia, cutting in. Barbara nodded and put an arm around the teenager.

“The 3 of us want you to demonstrate your manners to Charles and Delia” Beetlejuice nodded. “You know you will be staying with them for a while because this baby is coming and we don’t want you to deal with a crying child and everything. So you’re staying with them for a long time”

“Got it” said Beetlejuice. He looked at Barbara and could imagine her as a mother. Holding a baby (who looked a bit like Lydia) while she lectured him on his manners. He suppressed a smile at the thought and clapped his hands. “Well, let's head off so I can show off and not get told off for it”

Lydia started walking towards the door and called for Beetlejuice to follow her. He ran up to catch up with her and lifted her onto his back. She giggled and clung onto his neck. They walked off ahead of Adam and Barbara. The couple laughed at the sibling-like friends and followed them after grabbing keys. Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked out the door.

That afternoon, Beetlejuice surprised everyone (including himself) with his incredible manners. He said please, thank you and even offered to help clear up afterwards. Delia and Charles congratulated Lydia, Adam and Barbara on their success and said they couldn’t wait to see how the other lessons they had to teach Beetlejuice went. But Barbara knew that would have to wait because something more important than Beetlejuice’s manners was coming. 


	7. Baby

Barbara lay in bed, unable to sleep due to the pain she had in her lower abdomen. She sat up slightly and looked over at her husband. He was fast asleep, his arms wrapped around his pillow like a small child. Barbara smiled at his cuteness and silently slid out of bed, heading downstairs for a drink. As she stood at the sink, another wave of pain washed over her and she hunched over, breathing deeply. The pain wasn’t unbearable, it just hurt. Well it hurt a lot, but not as much as she expected labour pains to be. Falling through the floor had been worse, not to mention being exorcised. She put her glass in the sink and walked upstairs again. Once she was back in bed she tangled her legs up with Adams and tried to sleep, but it didn’t come to her, only more pain. Adam sensed his wifes presence next to him and rolled over, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. 10 minutes later, sleep still hadn’t come to Barbara and the pain had only become more frequent, and she had mega back pain. 

“Adam” she whispered, feeling bad about waking her husband up but needing him. 

“Hmm?” he mumbled, burying his face further into her neck. 

“Can you rub my back?” she asked, guilt washing over her more when she felt him breathe into her neck. 

“Sure” she tried to sit up and he reluctantly untangled himself from her. “Is it getting worse?” he asked, massaging her lower back in the place it always seemed to hurt. 

“Not worse,” said Barbara, “just more frequent” she leant into Adam and closed her eyes, feeling suddenly sleepy. Adam wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek against hers. They stayed like that for a long time, Barbara tensing up every now and again but feeling calm because she was in Adam’s arms. Barbara must’ve fallen asleep because when she woke up again she was laying on her pillow with Adam wrapped around her. She tried to work out the reason she’d woken up before hunching over as a particularly painful wave of pain hit her. Then, she felt a wet patch on the bed and realised what had happened. “Ad” she whispered. 

“What's up sweetheart?” mumbled Adam, again burying his face in her neck. “It’s not morning is it?” Barbara chuckled at her sleepy husband. 

“No honey” she reached for his hand and took it in her own, squeezing it gently “my waters broke” he nodded into her neck, clearly not hearing her correctly. Barbara rolled her eyes and patted his hand again. “Ad, the baby’s coming”

“Hmm.. good job” mumbled Adam. Barbara laughed and scrunched her face up in confusion. Gently she rubbed his hand and repeated what she’d previously said. This time he sat up with wide eyes “Wait, what?”

Lydia was up at 3.30 yet again, unable to sleep. She’d just had the same nightmare about Beetlejuice and was too scared to sleep. She got her phone out and debated calling Barbara. Her parents wouldn’t care about her nightmare, but Barbara would. She heard a noise from Beetlejuice’s room and jumped. Deciding she needed to at least message her second mother, she quickly texted her. Then she got her laptop out and started watching a movie. She didn’t expect Barbara to be awake or answer, so when her phone rang she was shocked. She picked it up and saw Adam calling her. 

“Hey Adam” she said, pausing her movie. 

“Hi Lydia” said Adam quietly “Barb said you had a nightmare” she sighed in response “was it the same one?” she made a confirming noise “You poor girl, we’ll sort it out soon. But I have some news” he sounded excited and Lydia wondered why on earth he was excited at 4.00 in the morning. 

“Whats up?” she asked, able to hear the smile in his voice.    
“The baby’s nearly here” he said, clearly unable to contain his excitement. 

“WHAT?” shouted Lydia, before realising it was 4.00am and quickly shutting up before her dad came and killed her. “Are you for real?” she whispered.

“Uh huh” said Adam.

“No, you’re joking,” she said. 

“Nope!” said Adam. She heard him moving around and him talking to someone before bringing the phone back closer to him. “Barb, can you tell Lydia I’m not kidding”

“Why are you awake at this hour Lydia?” asked Barbara “I know you had a nightmare but you messaged me half an hour ago, you should be asleep”

“I can’t” said Lydia “and especially can’t now”

“Why?” asked Barbara. Lydia rolled her eyes at Barbara’s cluelessness and sighed.    
“Because, you are having a freaking baby” said Lydia with a tone that suggested Duh!

“Lydia, I want you to sleep” said Barbara “It’d make me feel better. Please try to sleep again, okay?” Lydia sighed and made a noise in response. “Lydia, please. It’ll- ow- help me” said Barbara, breathing a whole lot harder than before. 

“Okay, I’ll try,” said Lydia. She hung up and lay back down, now too excited to sleep. 

“You’re doing so well honey” said Adam, rubbing his wife's arms as she lent against him. She breathed out a deep breath into his shoulder and gripped his shoulders. “Almost there”

“He’s right,” said Mary, the midwife, “you’re killing this. I think one more push and we’ll have a baby” Barbara nodded and gripped Adam’s shoulders. He rubbed her back and whispered to her until she felt a sense of relief wash over her. Adam kissed her head as she sunk to the floor, her baby being handed to her. 

“Oh my god” she said, hugging the child to her chest “oh my god” 

“You did it honey” said Adam, kneeling next to her and brushing his tears away “you really did it” he looked down at the baby and smiled more than Barbara had ever seen him smile. 

“Well done Barbara” said Mary, bringing a towel to wrap the baby in “That was probably the quickest birth I’ve ever seen” Adam smiled and wrapped his arms around Barbara. 

“It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would,” said Barbara, rubbing the babies back as it cried. Mary nodded and started doing more stuff she had to do. Gently she clamped the cord and handed the scissors to Adam. 

“Want to cut the cord?” he nodded and cut it. Barbara lifted the baby further up onto her chest and held it close to her. “Well, want to tell us what the gender is?” asked Mary. Adam looked closely at the baby as Barbara closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.    
“It's a girl,” he said, a little choked up. Barbara’s eyes snapped open and she looked at him. He was smiling down at her with such adoration in his eyes she started crying a little. Adam hugged her tightly. “So, you get the final call on the name”

“Ariana” said Barbara gently, looking down at her daughter “Ariana Grace Maitland” 

“It suits her,” said Mary, bringing a small blanket over to wrap Ariana up in. “Adam, want to hold her for a bit?” Adam nodded and gently took his new daughter from his wife. He thought he’d been the happiest he could be when he’d held his niece for the first time, but this was a whole lot better. 

“Go tell Lydia?” whispered Barbara. Adam nodded and walked just outside the door, taking his phone out as he went. He quickly texted the teenager to see if she was awake. She immediately replied and he phoned her. 

“Whats up Adam?” asked Lydia “why do you wanna facetime me? I look like a zombie”

“Just answer it” sighed Adam with a smile. Lydia accepted the facetime and looked at Adam expectedly. “I have someone I think you’d like to meet” said Adam, making sure to keep the camera on his face. 

“Wait?” said Lydia, sitting up in bed more 

“I’d like you to meet Ariana Grace Maitland”


	8. Happy

Adam laid next to Barbara, watching Ariana sleep on her chest. 20 minutes old and Adam would do anything for his daughter. Adam smiled and rested his head against Barbara’s. She sighed contentedly and turned to look at him. 

“Mums coming over” she said. “You told your mum?”

“Yeah” said Adam “She says she is going to come over here as soon as she can” Barbara nodded and gently traced her finger on their daughters small back. “She’s incredible Barb” mumbled Adam, pressing a kiss to his wife's cheek. Barbara smiled at his affection. 

“Lydia wasn’t asleep?” she asked    
“No” said Adam “I convinced her to wait until an appropriate time to tell Charles and Delia” he sighed and looked back at his daughter, deep in thought for a long time. “Are we going to let Beetlejuice see her?”

“I trust him” said Barbara “Not alone with her, and maybe not holding, but we can’t hide it from him. It's unfair” Adam nodded and heard the door downstairs open. “Can you go down? I think that's mum” Adam nodded and kissed her before heading downstairs. 

“Adam!” said Jill, closing the door behind her “How are you?”   
“Amazing” said Adam, going over and hugging his mother-in-law tightly “Barb’s upstairs if you want to come up”

“Of course” said Jill, putting her arm around Adam’s shoulders as they walked upstairs “How is she?”

“Really good” said Adam “She’s already the best mother”

“I always knew she would be” said Jill “Ever since she was little, I just knew she would be” Adam smiled and hugged his mother in law again. They reached their bedroom door and Adam poked his head in. He led Jill inside and moved to stand by the doorway, letting the mother and daughter have a moment. 

“Hi mum” said Barbara, looking up as her mother entered the room “Thanks for coming out” Jill nodded, dropping her bag by the door and walking over to her daughter. Jill sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Barbara gently. “Mum, I’d like you to meet Ariana”

“Oh Barb” said Jill, looking at the baby on her daughter's chest “she’s beautiful” 

“Want to hold her?” asked Barbara, not particularly wanting to part with her daughter but knowing her mother would want a hold. Jill nodded and Barbara gently transferred her daughter to her mother's arms. Ariana moved for a second before settling down into her grandmother's arms, falling back asleep. “Ad, come here” said Barbara sleepily, gesturing for her husband to come to her. Adam smiled and walked over to his wife, sitting beside her and kissing her head. Barbara leant against Adam and looked at her mother. “You know mum, I dunno how you had 4 kids. That hurt”

“You get something amazing at the end of it,” said Jill, studying her granddaughter's face closely. 

“Well yeah” said Barbara, she moved so she was more cuddled against Adam “But I can tell you know from experience that it hurts the same amount that falling through the floor did” Jill winced sympathetically and looked at the couple. 

“She is a perfect blend of you both” they smiled “In hair colour and nose she’s all Adam but her lips are yours Barb”

“And her eyes,” said Adam. “She has the most beautiful eyes ever, both of my girls do” Barbara smiled and reached her arms out to her mother. Reluctantly, Jill handed Ariana back over and looked at the couple. 

“Do you want me to stay or go?” asked Jill 

“Can you stay for a while?” asked Barbara, yawning “I wanna sleep but I don’t want Adam to be alone” Adam and Jill laughed while Barbara smiled and closed her eyes. Adam kissed her head and gently moved away from her. Barbara leant against the bed and cradled her baby against her chest. Adam and Jill quickly walked out of the room and down to the kitchen to get a drink. 

“She’s actually wonderful Adam” said Jill

“Barb did a good job,” said Adam. “Do you know when Liam can come over? Because I know Barb wants him over” Jill nodded thoughtfully. Adam’s phone started ringing and he quickly excused himself to answer it. “Lydia, you really should be asleep” said Adam gently, not wanting to alert his wife that Lydia was still awake.

“I had another nightmare,” said Lydia. Adam felt his heart sink “everytime I close my eyes all I can see is you, Barbara, dad and Delia dead on the ground with this evil version of Beetlejuice laughing behind you”

“Lydia, can you please go talk to your parents about this?” asked Adam “There isn’t much I can do to help, but they can do stuff. I’ll talk to you later but please try to sleep, okay?”

“I can’t” sniffed Lydia “I really can’t. I’ve been trying but I can’t” Adam could hear her holding back tears and sighed. “I’m sorry for wasting your time Adam, I’ll go. Goodnight” and before he could even open his mouth, she hung up the phone. Sighing, he walked back into the kitchen and slumped in a chair, deep in thought. 

“Everything alright Adam?” asked Jill, snapping him out of his thoughts. He nodded “Oh well okay” there was an uneasy silence until Jill broke it again “Who’s Lydia?”

“Oh she’s our neighbour” said Adam “she moved in with her father and soon to be step mother a while after the accident. She wasn’t in a very good place at the time, due to losing her mother a few months back to cancer but she seemed to warm up to us right away. Some stuff happened and it's resulted in us becoming extremely close with her and her family”

“Why’s Barb never mentioned that to me?” wondered Jill “I would’ve thought she would”

“She probably didn’t think it was important,” said Adam. “But Lydia’s a wonderful girl. She’s seemed to help Barb a lot with just stuff, and Charles and Delia, her parents, are actually really nice people”

“That's good” said Jill, she glanced at the time and sighed “I should be getting back to Liam so he doesn’t wake up to me not there. I will drop round later though” she hugged Adam tightly and they walked upstairs together to find Barbara. She was just watching Ariana as she slept, probably the happiest she’d ever been. 

“Hi mum” she said, looking up 

“Hey sweetie” Jill walked over and sat next to her daughter “I’m going now, I have to get back to your brother. But I promise we’ll drop round soon” she gave Barbara a kiss and stood up, biding the couple farewell and leaving. Adam sat down next to Barbara and looked at her. 

“You are truly incredible,” he whispered.

“Can you take her?” asked Barbara. Adam nodded and gently took his daughter from his wife, holding her close. Barbara shifted closer to him and closed her eyes, falling into a very deep but very happy sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update, sorry about that. School has been tough and exams are approaching fast, but I'll try to update. I hope you enjoyed this and any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!!!


	9. Telling people

After a very interrupted sleep, Barbara finally decided to stay awake and tell her sisters they had a new niece. She saw Adam asleep next to her and smiled. Every time she’d had to wake up in the night, he’d woken up with her and stayed with her until she fell asleep. She didn’t want to wake him up again but she knew Ariana would be up soon and that her sisters would be too loud when she told them. Sighing she said he could live and phoned up Hannah, the older of her two younger sisters. 

“Hey Barb” said Hannah sleepily “What do you want? It's too early”

“Its 8.30” said Barbara

“Exactly. Too early” said Hannah and Barbara heard her yawn over the phone. She sighed at her sister and glanced at Adam, who was still fast asleep. 

“Right” said Barbara “well, I have something to tell you”

“Hurry up” mumbled Hannah “I wanna sleep”

“Hold on” Barbara quickly texted Hannah a photo of Adam and Ariana from earlier. “I sent you a photo”

“This’d better be good,” said Hannah. There was silence over the phone before Hannah screamed really loudly. Barbara held the phone away from her ear and giggled. “Wait!” yelled Hannah, “You had a freaking baby?”

“Yup” said Barbara

“I’m an aunt?!” exclaimed Hannah 

“Yeah” nodded Barbara “Surprise!”

“Who else knows?” asked Hannah 

“Uhh… mum, Adams mum, I assume Liam and one of our friends” Barabra listed them off on her fingers “oh and you”

“So you haven’t told Sammy yet?”

“No” said Barbara “I figured it was best to tell you first because you’re older” Hannah made a noise in response “I don’t know if Adams told Belle yet but I think she’ll know soon. I should go tell Sam before mum mentions it to her but I’ll talk to you later, okay? If you wanna come over, just ask first because we have others coming over today” she quickly said goodbye to Hannah and was about to phone her other sister when Adam stirred next to her. 

“Morning honey” she said as he looked up at her 

“You should be sleeping” said Adam “You’ve probably only had like 2 hours sleep”

“I just told Hannah” said Barbara “and I’m fine. Ariana will be up soon anyway and I need to tell Sam before mum does. You can sleep if you want honey, I’ll be fine”

“No, I’m staying with you,” said Adam. Barbara laughed and facetimed her little sister, knowing she’d be awake. 

“Hey Barb!” said Sam, picking up the phone. Barbara smiled at her sister. She had always been an early riser and went for a walk every morning. “Whats up? You look dead, Adam’s snoring that bad?”   
“Thanks Sam,” said Adam. Sam giggled.

“We got a surprise for you”

“What is it?” asked Sam, sitting down next to the base of a tree which Barbara realised was in the local park. 

“Adam?” asked Barbara. Adam nodded and got up. “You’ll see” Sam rolled her eyes and looked at her sister. 

“Barb, you’re keeping me in suspense here” said Sam “You know I have no patience”

“Calm down drama queen” said Barbara as Adam sat back down with Ariana in his arms. Barbara kept the phone focused on her face while Adam shifted closer to her. “Ready?”

“Oh hurry up” sighed Sam. Barbara moved the phone out so it showed Ariana. “What?” shrieked Sam and Barbara was glad she’d thought to turn the phone volume down because Sam was very loud. 

“Shhh” said Barbara 

“Sorry” said Sam “You had the baby?”

“Yup” said Barbara, leaning against the bed and laying her head on Adam’s shoulder. “Meet Ariana”

“Guys” said Sam, wiping her eyes “You’re gonna make me cry”

“You can come round sometime” said Barbara “You, Han and Liam can all come over together it just has to go through us when you’re coming round because we have others coming over”

“Who?” asked Sam

“Friends,” said Adam.

“Okay” said Sam “I’ll talk to Hannah and Liam. I’ll let you guys go because you look dead, but I’ll see you tomorrow and congratulations” she hung up and Barbara looked at Adam. 

“So, how's Lydia?” she asked, looking at Ariana “She hasn’t texted me or phoned me. Usually I get a good morning message”

“I think she’s mad at me” sighed Adam. Barbara looked at him and he sighed “she phoned earlier, when your mum was here. She said she couldn’t sleep. I said that there wasn’t really anything I could do to help her and that it was more Charles and Delia’s area”

“Bet that went down well…” mumbled Barbara

“Yeah” sighed Adam “she said she couldn’t sleep and that she was sorry for bugging me. Before I could say anything she hung up” Barbara sighed sadly.

“She’s a tricky one our Lydia” she said, stroking Ariana’s back as she started to fuss “a couple of months ago she yelled at us for trying to parents her and now she only wants us to help her”

“We should talk it through with everyone” said Adam “Invite Charles, Delia, Lydia and Beej over. Just talk everything through and try to work it out. Because Lydia can’t continue with these restless nights. Charles and Delia need to know everything and Beej needs to know what's going on with Lydia and maybe they can talk it through and Lydia can realise that he won’t hurt her” 

“Yeah” nodded Barbara, she was about to text Delia when Ariana started to whimper “Oh come here sweetheart” she gently took her daughter from Adam and held her close. “Can you message Delia?” he nodded and quickly messaged the life coach before settling back down next to Barbara. They watched as Ariana calmed back down and Delia messaged back, saying they’d all come over. “Wait, do they know we have Ariana?”

“No” said Adam “Only Lydia does” Barbara nodded as Ariana went back to sleep, thankfully not needing to feed again. There was a knock on the door downstairs and Adam went to get it. “Hey guys” he said. Lydia had her face facing the floor and she didn’t acknowledge him. 

“Hi” said Delia cheerfully “How are you?”

“Really amazing,” said Adam, a grin creeping onto his face. “If you come upstairs with me, I’ll show you something” 

“Where’s Babs?” asked Beetlejuice

“Upstairs” said Adam. They all walked upstairs and into Adam and Barbara’s bedroom, where Barbara was holding Ariana. Beetlejuice’s jaw quite literally dropped to the floor before he picked it up and reattached it to his face. Charles smiled and Delia started silently jumping around. 

“Hey,” said Barbara gently. The Deetz stayed where they were and Barbara quietly laughed “Come here, I won’t bite”. Delia bounced forward and Charles followed. Lydia kept her head down and also moved forward. Beetlejuice stayed back and stared at the baby. “Guys, I’d like you to meet Ariana” 

“Oh my god” said Delia “congratulations”

“She’s quite a big baby” said Charles “I mean, compared to Lydia she’s huge” he gently patted his daughters shoulders and she shrugged him off, staring firmly at the floor. Adam shot a glance at Beetlejuice and found the demon just staring at his wife and daughter. He shifted closer to Barbara and looked at the group. 

“Right, not to break the moment up and all, but we all need to have a talk” he said.

“About what?” asked Delia, leaning down looking down at Ariana 

“Lydia”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we will have the family talks about Lydia. I wanted to have it all in one chapter but this was getting too long. Hope you like it! Thanks for reading!!!! 
> 
> Have a great day :)


	10. Family talks (pt. 1)

Lydia’s head shot up and she stared at the Maitlands, shaking her head. Barbara gave her a look and she stared back with wide eyes. Charles was looking at his daughter in a weird way while Delia and Adam seemed to be having a silent conversation. Beetlejuice was still in the corner but had finally torn his attention away from Ariana and was looking at everyone with a very confused expression. 

“Beej, Lydia, why don’t you go meet us downstairs” said Barbara gently. Lydia glared at her and walked off, dragging Beetlejuice behind her. “Right-” started Barbara but Charles cut her off. 

“What's wrong with Lydia?” he asked quickly. Delia gently put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something to him. He took a few breaths and looked at Barbara apologetically “sorry for cutting you off, what were you saying?”

“Lydia’s still having nightmares” said Adam. Charles' face fell “She calls us up a lot. Usually in the middle of the night.”

“I’m sorry” said Charles “You should’ve told us-”

“We promised we wouldn’t” said Barbara “That's probably why she’s mad at us”

“That and the fact that last night, or earlier actually, I mentioned that she should talk to you two about the nightmares because you were her real parents and could do something unlike us. But she got sorta mad and hung up before I could say anything else” said Adam 

“Oh” said Charles “I’m sorry… i... “

“She’s a tricky one that girl” said Delia “A lot of emotions”

“Yeah” said Barbara “We think it's best that we just talk everything over with Beej there and hope that the two of them can sort it out because I don’t want Lydia mad at us”

“Good idea” nodded Delia, then she grinned “Before we do that, can I hold Ariana?”

“Sure” said Barbara “You can take her downstairs if you like, there’s more space and we can have the chat there”

“Barb, you should stay in bed-” Adam started to protest but a look from his wife shut him up. “Right, sorry”

“Just make sure I don’t fall through the floor again” said Barbara as Delia approached her. Gently she transferred the baby into the life coaches arms and made sure she was supported properly before sitting back and looking at Delia “You’re a natural”

“She’s so beautiful,” said Delia, sniffing a little.    
“Can you take her downstairs please?” asked Barbara, gingerly moving to the edge of the bed and standing up with Adams' help. Delia nodded. Together the 4 adults went downstairs and found Lydia and Beetlejuice sitting on the couch. Seeing the adults approaching, Lydia got up and walked over to the far corner of the room, her head back down. Barbara sat down on the couch and Delia stood next to her, holding Ariana still. 

“Right” said Charles, sitting on one of the armchairs “Lydia please come here” the teenager slowly walked over to her father and sat on the edge of his armchair. “Now, we have a few things to discuss” Lydia looked at her father and shook her head “Right, so… Adam and Barbara say you’ve still been having nightmares”

“It's fine” mumbled Lydia, speaking for the first time “They’re stopping”

“No they’re not” said Adam. Lydia looked at him with wide eyes that said SHUT UP! “Lydia, you and I both know that last night you were crying because your nightmare was so bad”

“Can we not do this now?” asked Lydia “Please? I didn’t get to have breakfast”

“You never eat breakfast” said Charles 

“But if you’re hungry, you know where all the food is,” said Barbara. Lydia got up and was about to take a step “But, honey, we’re going to tell BJ the full issue, okay?” Lydia ignored her and scurried into the kitchen. 

“What's up with Lyd?” asked Beetlejuice, speaking up for the first time “Is anything wrong?”

“Well she’s been having bad nightmares” said Adam “as you might be able to tell from her appearance recently” Beetlejuice nodded.

“Right well, she’s been having nightmares about you?” said Barbara “I know we told you about the first one but they’ve continued”

“I’d never hurt her” said Beetlejuice “I know I sorta did, but that was a green card thing and I don’t wanna marry her. Life is a roller coaster and I’m happy with you guys now”

“Yeah” nodded Charles “But we need to sort this out with Lydia because she can’t have any more sleepless nights and she can’t keep annoying the Maitlands every night”   
“We don’t mind,” said Barbara, gently taking her fussing daughter from Delia and calming her down. “We just thought we should get you guys in the loop”

“Maybe Beej if you talk it through with Lydia it will help her” said Delia “and if that doesn’t work, at least we tried and you would’ve still talked it through anyway” Beetlejuice started fiddling nervously and Delia looked at him “Anything wrong?” Beetlejuice mumbled something but none of them heard it. “What was that?”

“I’ve been having bad dreams too” he whispered in a tiny voice. Delia and Barbara both simultaneously went into ‘mum mode’. Delia handed Ariana back to Barbara and went to sit next to Beetlejuice. 

“Why haven’t you told us?” asked Delia gently 

“Didn’t think you’d care” mumbled Beetlejuice, picking at his peeling black nail polish.

“Beej, of course we care” said Barbara “we want to help you” Beetlejuice gave her a small smile before dropping his head again. There was silence for a while before Barbara spoke up again. “What are they about?” she asked gently “if you want to tell us, we’ll listen”

“Its 2” said Beetlejuice “one is when Lydia keeps stabbing me over and over again and doesn’t apologize and hates me” he took a deep, sort of shaky breath “and the second one is just flashbacks to when Ma would hurt me”

“Thank you for telling us,” said Delia. Beetlejuice gave her a small smile and dropped his head again, the tips of his hair turning pink. Lydia shuffled back into the room, holding a piece of toast in her hand, and slumped onto the couch next to Barbara. Barbara looked at the girl curiously and Lydia looked at her lap.

“Not mad anymore?” asked Barbara. Lydia shrugged her shoulders. “Right…” Barbara looked at Charles and the man shrugged in return. “Honey, can you talk to us please? This quiet attitude is making it very difficult to work out anything” Lydia said nothing again “Lydia, please… is anything wrong?”

“Nothings wrong” said Lydia “I’m fine” 

“Lydia please” said Charles “you were fine at home, now we’re here and you’re silent. What's going on?” Lydia stayed silent “Lydia” said Charles in a stronger voice. Lydia mumbled something that only Barbara seemed to hear. 

“Charles, why don’t you and Delia go and talk to Beetlejuice in the kitchen” she suggested “Adam and I will talk to Lydia. Feel free to eat whatever you like” the adults nodded and left with Beetlejuice, both of them trusting that Barbara knew what she was doing. When her parents were gone, Lydia lifted her head up and looked at Barbara. She saw the dark circles under the teenagers eyes and felt so bad for her. “Right, now, Lydia… can you tell us what's wrong?”

“Adams mad at me” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for sticking with me! I wanted to have the whole lot of talking as one chapter but it got too long, so enjoy this for now and the next chapter should be out soon! Also (shameless self promo) I'm doing Maitlands week 2020 and the book is on my page so if you want some (hopefully) cute Maitlands stories you can go check them out (only if you want to, not forcing anyone to do anything!). Thank you so much to everyone who's reading these, means a lot and its all the kind comments that inspire me to  
> continue writing! Peace out you amazing people ✌️


	11. Family talks (pt. 2)

“I’m sorry, what’d you say Lydia?” asked Adam. Lydia hung her head and Adam came and sat next to her. “Do you think I’m mad at you?”

“You sounded annoyed last night” mumbled Lydia, staring at her hands 

“Oh Lydia” said Adam, gently putting an arm around the teenager “I’m not at you or annoyed… I’m just concerned” Lydia continued to look at her hands and Adam glanced over at his wife, who shrugged in return, yawning. Adam raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes, slumping back further into the couch, holding Ariana tightly. 

“You sounded annoyed” said Lydia

“I’m sorry Lydia” said Adam “I’m sorry you took it the wrong way, I wasn’t annoyed at you. I’m not annoyed at you. Not in the slightest. I just want to help you” Lydia nodded and glanced over at Barbara, who was falling asleep. She looked at Adam with a tiny smile and nodded to the female. Adam quickly got up and gently took his daughter from his wife. Barbara opened one eye to look at Adam before settling further into the couch and closing her eyes again. “Right Lydia” said Adam “Is there anything else on your mind?”

“No” said Lydia “I’m all good”

“Don’t lie, Lyd,” said Barbara, opening her eyes again and looking at the teenager who seemed to slump down more. Barbara smiled slightly and looked up at Adam, who was hugging Ariana and looking back at her. The two seemed to have yet another silent conversation that involved a lot of eyebrow raising and head tilting. 

“Hold on” said Lydia, flicking her head between the couple “Do you guys actually understand each other?” they nodded, smiling at each other “What? How?” Barbara smirked and smiled at the teenager. 

“We’ve just learned I guess” she shrugged “Now Lydia, I can tell something else is bugging you”

“But, how do you learn to silently communicate?” exclaimed Lydia, throwing her arms up. 

“Sweetie, we’ve been married for 10 years” said Barbara “We know each other pretty well, now don’t avoid the question, what's wrong?”

“I don’t want you guys to forget about me” said Lydia

“Why would you think we’d forget about you?” asked Barbara, sitting forward and looking at Lydia

“I dunno” said Lyida, picking at her fingers. Barbara gently grabbed Lydia’s hands and held them in her own, stopping her from wrecking her nails more. “I guess just because you guys got a kid now and so like you won’t need me anymore because you got a real kid that's your blood and DNA and…” she trailed off. 

“Lydia, we’d never leave you” said Adam “or forget about you”

“I promise, we’ll always make time for you” said Barbara “No matter what, we will always have time for you” Lydia smiled at her and looked at Adam, who smiled and nodded too. She smiled more and seemed to relax more. Barbara smiled and looked over at her husband. “So Lydia, do you want to hold Ariana?”

“Am I allowed to?” asked Lydia, looking unsure

“Of course you are silly” said Barbara “She’s your little sister if you want her to be” Lydia perked up at the idea of a little sister and hesitantly nodded. Barbara showed her how to hold her arms and Adam gently placed the newborn in the teenager's arms. She looked down at the baby and once she’d gotten used to the feeling, she looked at the Maitlands, who were watching her. Barbara was crying and Adam had an arm around her. Lydia gave her a look and Barbara laughed “I’m sorry, I’m tired, emotional and happy” Adam gently rubbed her arms. 

“You’re a natural Lyd” said Adam “she seems very happy” 

“She’s the best little sister ever” whispered Lydia, staring down at the sleeping baby in her arms. The Maitlands smiled at her and Lydia smiled back, happy to have sorted everything out with the Maitlands and ecstatic to have a new little sister. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey wonderful people!   
> sorry for not updating in a while, schools been tough. i've had a thousand assignments to do, plus an audition to prep for, plus 3 different concerts to rehears for. 
> 
> anyway, a question for you guys, i'm Australian (i dunno if i've mentioned that before) and i've recently discovered just how much different language Australians use to the rest of the world and i was wondering if its ever come up in my stories and confused you. i generally try to use language that can be understood by anyone but i'm just curious. 
> 
> also, for my drama performance at school, i get to play a ghost and she possesses someone and so i'm trying to be a bit like Beetlejuice because why not (my friend is telling me to channel my inner Beej).   
> Sorry, this has gotten extremely long so thank you for reading this if you have read this far. I'll try to update as soon as i can, all the kind comments i get inspire me to write! thanks so much!!!


	12. Upset

The Maitlands and Deetz managed to sort out all of Lydia and Beetlejuice's nightmare problems and both of them were sleeping better. Now it was the Maitlands who were exhausted. Having a new baby was tough on anyone, so it was understandable as to why they were asleep on their feet, so Deetz decided to help. In the evening, when they were together (which was most nights as the two families had grown incredibly close), the Deetz would take Ariana, who was now a month old, and looked after her. This allowed the Maitlands to relax and just talk with everyone, catch up on life. It was good for them all, and they all looked forward to the family dinners they had. 

It was one Saturday that Barbara’s mum and sister Sam were over visiting. The three females were sitting outside in the backyard, on the grass, just talking while Ariana laid on the blanket in between Barbara’s legs. Adam was in the shed, working on a project but luckily he wasn’t using any power tools, so Ariana was relaxed. 

“She’s so cute,” said Sam, leaning over to look at her niece and smiling. “How did you end up with such a cute baby?” Barbara laughed and gently laid her hands on her daughter's body, smiling when Ariana grabbed her finger. “It's so unfair” said Sam “I want a baby now”

“You’re a bit young honey” said Jill, looking at her youngest daughter. 

“24 aint that young mum” said Sam “I want a baby now”

“Talk to Harry” said Barbara, gently rubbing her hand over Ariana’s. “He’s a reasonable guy” Sam considered this and nodded. There was silence for a while while Jill gently picked Ariana up and held her close. She was in love with her new granddaughter and spent any moment she could with her. Barbara looked over her shoulder into the garage, where she could see Adam sanding down the edge of a piece of wood. Adam looked up and caught her eye. They smiled at each other and Adam put the sandpaper down. He walked over to the three females and sat next to Barbara, giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Hey Barb” said Sam, snapping Barbara out of her thoughts “How’d you two decide you wanted a baby?” 

“Uhh” Barbara glanced at Adam who nodded and took her hand comfortingly “Well, after we lost the baby a few years ago, we were terrified to try again because we didn’t want anything bad to happen” 

“I’m sorry for bringing this up” said Sam, a guilty look passing over her face 

“No, it's all good” said Barbara, waving her sister off “So we just kept on making up excuses as to why we couldn’t have a baby. The house was too unsafe, turns out we were right. We felt as though we needed everything to be perfect before we could have a baby. Turns out we were wrong about that. But anyway, we were actually half way through listing everything wrong with the house when we noticed just how bad the floorboards were getting and said we would fix them soon” she looked at Adam “but instead, we fell through them”

“Gave us a new way of looking at life” said Adam, putting an arm around Barbara “We could’ve died because of that fall, and came close to it too” they knew that because Beetlejuice had told them just how near to death they actually came. “So we decided no more waiting, because you can never know when you won’t have a tomorrow. We all hope for long happy lives and so we never think about the fact that life can just be cut short sometimes” 

“Oh wow” said Sam. “Thanks for sharing” she glanced at her watch “I’ve gotta go to work, but I’ll come around again sometime. Adam do you know when Belle is coming over with Liz?”

“Next month?” said Adam, “I think” Sam nodded and bid everyone farwell. The three adults made their way back inside to have some afternoon tea and were in the middle of a conversation when the front door slammed open and someone ran into the kitchen, straight at Barbara. 

“Woah” said Barbara, wrapping her arms around Lydia “Lyd, what's wrong?” Lydia just started crying. Barbara attempted to calm the teenager down while Adam and Jill sat in shock, looking at the pair. “Hey, hey, Lyd” Barbara ran her hand over Lydia’s back and kissed the top of her head “Take deep breaths for me” Lydia started breathing faster, crying more. She was only making her situation worse. “Lydia” Barbara pulled the teenager away from her body and looked her straight in the eye “Honey, you’ve got to breath for me” Lydia shook her head and Barbara sighed “come on Lyd. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth” the teenager shook her head “Honey, you’re only whipping yourself up” Lydia started to do as Barbara said and eventually calmed down, though she was still crying. “There we go, now can you tell me what happened?” 

“S-somehow it got out at s-school that my m-mum had d-died and that's why I moved here” said Lydia “and I was walking home and a group of boys started following me and laughing at me and then it got too much so I ran. I didn’t wanna go home because Beej can’t see me like this, he’ll never let me live it down” she hugged Barbara again “I’m sorry”

“Honey, you have no reason to be sorry” said Barbara, resting her head on top of Lydias, looking at her mother with a smile “I’m glad you came to me”

“Did I upset Ari?” asked Lydia, snapping up straight. Barbara looked over at her husband and saw Ariana sound asleep.

“No, she’s fine” said Barbara “and if she was awake, it wouldn’t be your fault” she brushed Lydia’s hair out of her eyes and looked at her smudged mascara. “Hey, how about you go upstairs and freshen up, you’re welcome to take any clothes if you want to change” Lydia nodded and hugged Barbara again. Then she quickly walked out of the kitchen. Barbara sat back in her chair and looked at her mum with a smile.   
“So that's Lydia?” asked Jill

“That's Lydia” confirmed Adam “Mind you, she’s usually not that emotional” he looked at Barbara “Will she be okay upstairs?”

“She’s a big girl Adam” said Barbara “she can handle using a bathroom sink” Adam laughed and Jill looked between the couple. “Anything wrong mum?”

“How come you never mentioned her to me before Barb?” asked Jill “It's just you seem really close with her, and she seems like a good kid”

“I just never thought to mention it to you,” said Barbara. 

“Oh” said Jill “is she okay though, she seemed pretty upset”

“She’ll be fine” said Adam “I should go check on her-” he started to get up but Barbara stopped him, standing up herself. 

“I’ll go,” she said. “I’ll be back soon” she patted Adam on the shoulder and walked upstairs to the bedroom where Lydia always stayed. The door was closed so she knocked and a second later the door opened. Lydia was in the same black sweat pants she always borrowed plus a t-shirt Barbara realised was one of Adam’s old ones from highschool. “Hey honey, feeling better?”

“Yeah” nodded Lydia “Is that your mum downstairs?”

“Yeah” Barabra nodded and held her hand out “come on, she’d love to meet you”

“Great first impression I made,” said Lydia, grabbing Barbara’s hand and walking downstairs with her. “Does she think I’m weird?”

“No of course not” said Barbara “she understands if anything. She’s raised three teenage girls and a teenage boy” Barbara chuckled and squeezed Lydia’s hand, sensing the girls nervousness. Lydia appreciated this a lot and gave Barbara a small smile. They walked into the kitchen and Lydia sat right next to Barbara, staring nervously at her hands. “Mum” said Barbara, catching Jill and Adam’s attention “I’d like you to meet Lydia”

“Hi Lydia” said Jill happily, “It’s lovely to meet you” 

“It's nice to meet you too,” said Lydia, grabbing Barbara’s hand under the table for support. The teenager got very nervous around new people, and Barbara could sense this even though Lydia had never actually voiced this issue to her. “Sorry about all that”

“It's okay,” said Jill with a kind smile. “I completely understand” she glanced at Barbara and smiled “reminds me of Barbara actually” Adam started laughing and Lydia glanced at the blonde woman, who was looking at her mother in shock “What Barb? You can’t deny that you were emotional as a teenager”

“Not as much as Hannah” said Barbara in an offended tone “and nowhere near as much as Sam” Adam continued to laugh while Ariana slept in his arms. The doorbell rang and Barbara looked relieved at the opportunity for a conversation change. “Right, moving on from my teenage years… I’ll go get the door”

“I’ll go Barb” said Lydia and before Barbara could protest, she ran off. A second later she came back in followed by a brown haired teenage boy. “Uhh, Barbara. You’re brothers here to see you”

“Hi Liam,” said Barbara. Lydia walked straight back to her seat by Barbara and slumped right down in it, staring pointedly at the floor. “What are you doing here” Liam walked over to Jill and put his hands on her shoulders. 

“Well I saw some of my mates giving Lydia a hard time on the way home today and figured I’d just make sure she got home safe. I noticed she came to your house and decided to drop in and say hi” 

“That's very nice of you Liam” said Barbara “I’m sure Lydia appreciates it, don’t you sweetheart” she looked at the teenager who shrugged and continued to study the floor. 

“Right,” Liam walked over to the fridge and started searching through it for food “How do you know Lydia?”

“She’s our next door neighbour” said Barbara “We’ve known her since she moved here”

“Why didn’t I know this?” asked Liam. Barbara shrugged and when Liam looked at Adam for an answer he only got a look that said I dunno, in return. “Well, this has been awkward, I’m gonna go home. Mum I’ll see you there” 

“Stay safe” said Jill, giving her son a kiss on the cheek, luckily Lydia was still looking at the floor. Liam sighed and after quickly hugging Adam and Barbara goodbye and kissing Ariana on the head he left the house. A minute after the front door shut, Lydia looked up from the floor and found everyone's eyes on her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Extra long chapter because I haven't updated in a while (sorry!)  
> I hope everyone is staying safe and well. There has been a sudden spike in covid cases where i live so i am a little stressed about that but writing distracts me so you might get a new chapter sooner than expected!  
> i haven't proof read this chapter (sorry i'm lazy)  
> i hope you all have an amazing day/night! thank you so much for reading!!


	13. Holiday

Another 2 months after the incident with Lydia and the boys at school, things were finally settling down for the 2 families. Lydia’s nightmares had disappeared completely, Beetlejuice was finally starting to understand human life and Ariana was growing up. 3 months old and she was finally starting to interact with everyone a little more. Barbara loved her daughter more than anything, and missed her dearly when she left for work. She’d returned to work for the final few weeks before the Christmas holidays started and was so happy to be back with her students. The Maitlands & Deetz decided to take a holiday as a family before Christmas, and as Adam and Barbara had a good friend that they were welcome to visit anytime, the 2 families decided to take a short holiday to Australia. They were staying in a small shack on a beach called Black Point. It was a beautiful spot and everyone was very excited for this holiday. Lydia was ecstatic because she had only been to the beach a few times when she was younger, and was always talking about her camera and all the photos she could take for a school project. Adam and Barbara were excited because it was going to be Ariana’s first time at the beach and overseas and they couldn’t wait to introduce a whole new world to their daughter. Delia wouldn’t shut up about how it was a good family bonding time and Charles was ready for some relaxation time. Beetlejuice had surprisingly never been to the beach, so this was going to be a whole new experience for him but he was very excited for it. 

“That was exhausting” said Beetlejuice, who had been summoned a month ago so he could leave the house to travel to school with Lydia to keep her company. It had been a huge family debate, but in the end Lydia and Beetlejuice won. For the plane ride, the demon had dressed in everyday clothes and had to vanish all the filth off him, the only slightly off thing about him being his hair but Charles didn’t really care. The business man had slept most of the plane ride like his fiance, unlike his daughter and Beetlejuice, who had been up playing intense games of uno. Adam and Barbara had taken turns staying awake with Ariana (who had not slept at all), and were both very tired.    
“I rather enjoyed it,” said Delia as they collected their bags from the bag pick up. Once all the bags had been collected, the 2 families walked out of the airport and were greeted with a wave of hot air.   
“Oh this is disgusting” said Lydia, tugging at her black shirt 

“Welcome to Australia” said Adam, breathing in the fresh air “Oh this is just as I remember” 

“Hot and disgusting?” asked Lydia with a raised eyebrow. Adam nodded with a smile and Lydia groaned “When do we get to the beach?”

“We have an hour drive ahead of us,” said Charles, walking over to the place where they were going to borrow a car. Lydia groaned and flopped against Adam. “Please drop the attitude Lyd,” said Charles as he walked inside with Barbara and Delia, leaving Adam to control Beetlejuice and Lydia. 

“Cheer up Lyd” said Adam, putting his hands on the teenagers shoulders “You’ll have fun”

“Will I?” asked Lydia    
“Yeah” said Adam “All the wildlife around here? Amazing photography opportunities” Lydia looked around the airport and raised an eyebrow at the man “Okay, so not here. But wait until we’re on the road, it's amazing”

“You’ve been here before?” asked Lydia. Adam nodded and grabbed Beetlejuice's arm as he stepped onto the road. “When?”

“When I was younger,” said Adam “My dad’s job required him to move a lot, so I’ve lived in many different places. Luckily when I started middle school, we moved to Winter River and dad had a pretty permanent position there until after I’d finished highschool, so I was allowed to stay there with Barbara instead of go off with him and mum”

“Oh wow” said Lydia “So you lived here for a while?”

“Yeah” said Adam “Only for like a year though. Dad got transferred pretty quickly after we moved here” Lydia nodded and then everyone came out of the rental place. “Everything good?” asked Adam, looking at his wife

“All done” said Barbara, adjusting her sleeping daughter in the baby carrier she was wearing. Adam smiled and looked at Lydia, who still seemed to be processing everything he had just told her. “So, shall we head off and see each other when we get there?” asked Barbara, looking around. 

“Sure” said Charles “Beej, you’re coming with us” the demon nodded and followed Delia to the car. “Lydia, you can choose who you go with” said Charles

“Uhh, who wants me?” asked Lydia. Barbara and Charles shared a look and shrugged. “Right, that look tells me that you don’t mind” the two nodded and Ariana woke up, starting to whimper but Barbara calmed her down by taking her out of the sling and holding her close. “Uh, can I go with Adam and Barbara?” asked Lydia. “Give you and Delia some time with Beej”

“Oh help” mumbled Charles. He kissed his daughter on the head and walked off to his fiance and Beetlejuice. “Bye sweetheart, thanks for taking her” he waved goodbye and got into the car. 

“Thanks for taking me guys” said Lydia 

“It's alright Lyd,” said Adam, the two following Barbara as she led them to the car they’d rented. “Sorry if Ari cries” he said as Barbara put her in the carseat. “Honey, I’ll drive” Barbara handed him the keys. 

“Lyd, want to take the front?” asked Barbara “I’d better stay back here with Ari” Lydia nodded and climbed into the front seat. Adam started the car and drove off, following Charles and Delia’s car. “So, what did you guys do while we were gone?” asked Barbara, grabbing Ariana’s favourite toy from her bag and handing it to her daughter, hoping to make her sleep again. 

“I told Lyd all about how I used to live here,” said Adam. Barbara nodded and ticked Ariana’s sides, making her daughter smile a little. The couple chatted a little about stuff because Lydia had decided to give them some privacy and listen to music while she looked out the window at the scenery flashing by. The teenager was mesmerized by the new city and was ecstatic when they drove past some paddocks and saw some kangaroos just chilling. Eventually (after a very uneventful trip) they arrived at the shack and immediately Ariana started crying. 

“Oh sweetie” said Barbara, gently lifting her daughter out of her car seat “I know you’re hungry, you’ll be fed soon” she held Ariana close and bounced her gently while they walked up to the Deetz shack and found Delia talking about the energy of the place. 

“Come and look at the view Lyd?” said Delia “Then we’ll head to the Maitlands place, Charles has both the keys” the 6 people and demon walked out onto the back veranda and were met with the beach about 2 meters away (just down a small ramp). 

“Wow” said Lydia “Is this how all Australians live?” 

“No” laughed Adam “it’d be nice to live like this though”

“I could get used to this” said Charles, sitting down in a chair by the table sitting under the veranda “This is nice”

“It's so warm,” said Delia. “I can feel myself melting” Adam laughed and looked over at Lydia, who was taking photos of the view. He smiled and looked around at everyone. Delia was taking in the view and smiling. Charles was the most relaxed Adam had ever seen him. Beetlejuice was in shock (and speechless). Lydia was the happiest he’d ever seen her and taking a million photographs. His wife was by his side with their daughter. Ariana was still fussing a little but had calmed down enough for Barbara to lean against him. He put an arm around her shoulders and rested his head on top of hers, breathing out a happy sigh. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! i hope you guys enjoy this. i was inspired to send them to Australia because its boiling here currently and i miss the beach (was in strict lockdown but its ended early). i hope you all are staying safe and healthy. have an amazing day/night!


	14. Peaceful

Lydia woke up to the smell of pancakes and the laughter of her family. She rolled out of bed and didn’t even bother to put a jumper on like she usually did because the heat was disgusting. She wandered out into the main part of the house and saw the back door open. Smiling, she walked out and found her whole family there. Barbara was helping Charles hand food out to everyone while Delia poured drinks. Adam was sitting next to Beetlejuice and had Ariana curled up on his chest. 

“Lydia” said Beetlejuice, spotting her “You’re awake!”

“Hi” said Lydia, flopping into the seat at the end of the table next to the empty seat next to Adams. She figured that one was for Barbara. 

“How’d you sleep Lydia?” asked Delia, setting a plate of food in front of the teenager.

“Good” said Lydia, she saw the sun high in the sky. “What time is it?”

“Around 10” said Adam, “You’re finally adjusting to the time” Lydia smiled and started eating food. Every morning the 2 families came together to eat and then Delia liked to go on a walk to the end of the beach to clear her mind. Beetlejuice joined her on these walks and the two had really bonded. Adam and Barbara would generally head back to their home for a while, leaving Lydia and Charles to have some father-daughter time. 

“Only 2 more days here” said Delia sadly, sitting down. “I want to come back”

“Same” said Barbara

“Maybe when its not boiling” said Lydia, grabbing her ice cold drink and seeing the ice had already nearly melted “It's too hot”

“Can’t argue with that” said Delia 

“How do people live like this?” asked Lydia, flopping backwards in her chair and holding her glass to her forehead. “Like its 10 and I’m sweating already”

“Well if you’re born with it, you don’t know any different” said Adam, stroking Ariana’s back “and if you moved here or were here more, you’d get used to it pretty quickly” 

“I guess” said Lydia “Beej, wanna go kayaking today?”

“Sure” said Beetlejuice. Charles had hired a couple of kayaks for the 2 families (although they were just 1 big family) to use because why not. “Dora, wanna come?”   
“Beej, will you ever call me by my proper name?” asked Delia

“No” said Beetlejuice firmly “Never”

“Whatever” sighed Delia “Sure I’ll come, as long as no more stingrays show up” she shuddered which made Lydia and Beetlejuice laugh a lot. The previous day Delia had been out kayaking with Lydia and Beetlejuice, only in the shallows, when a stingray swam under the kayaks. She’d completely freaked out and nearly fallen off the kayak onto the stingray but managed to stay upright. Eventually the animal swam away and Delia quickly went to the beach back to Charles. 

“Delia, you’ve got to relax” said Barbara “The stingray was just minding its business, it didn’t hurt you”

“Yeah” said Delia “But look at Steve Irwin, he got killed by a stingray, you can never be too careful” Barbara sighed and went back to her breakfast. 

“I’m going to go get changed” said Lydia, standing up “Beej, I’ll go kayaking with you after”

“Okay” said Beetlejuice. Lydia got up and walked inside. The demon turned to everyone else “So, what are the rest of you going to do”

“I was going to show Delia and Charles the edge of the peninsula” said Adam, rocking Ariana as she started to wake up. “It's only like a 20 minute walk, you and Lydia could kayak up with us as long as you didn’t go too far because the water can get rougher up there because it's the edge”

“Sure” said Beetlejuice “Sounds good, Darla you going to walk?”

“Yes” said Delia firmly “I am not floating off to Antarctica” then she considered herself “But the cold would be nice”

“I can’t believe people have Christmas like this” said Lydia, appearing in a black bathing suit “Like, you can’t do ugly sweaters” Adam laughed “What? It’d be awful, having a boiling Christmas” 

“Lets just get walking” said Barbara, stopping her husband from going off on a long winded explanation. Adam looked at her and she smiled back “Come on honey, I’ll take Ari” gently she took her daughter from Adam and stood up. “Come on Lyd, Beej” she led Beetlejuice and Lydia down onto the beach and the rest of the adults followed. The two chaotic siblings dragged the kayaks into the water and the adults started walking along the beach in the shallows relishing the feeling of the cold water on their burning skin. Ariana had woken up and had her head laying on Barbara’s chest, just watching the world pass by. Eventually they reached the end of the peninsula and just as Adam had said, the water was slightly rougher. Adam and Charles made their way further into the water while Delia and Barbara stayed back on the sand. Lydia and Beetlejuice had started racing back already and soon the adults followed, to ensure that they didn’t disturb the general public.They were nearly back at their shack when a guy in a singlet and shorts walked by. 

“Hey” he said “nice day out”

“Yeah,” said Charles. “Really nice”

“Oh you from America?” asked the guy. 

“Yes” said Delia “we’re having a vacation here”

“Well, have fun guys, this is a beautiful spot” Delia nodded with a laugh and the guy walked off, bidding them farewell. They spent the rest of the day just relaxing on the beach, occasionally swimming, and watching Lydia and Beetlejuice cause chaos. That night they had a nice late dinner and listened to the thrilled giggles of the children in the house next to them. 

“Immy!” said a girls shrill voice “Give it back!”

“Nah Gem” said the girl, presumably Immy “It's mine now” Ariana wouldn’t sleep with all the noise and was laying in between Lydia’s legs and the girl was entertaining her. Adam and Barbara were sitting on the sand in front of the house together, watching the children next door play. There were 2 girls chasing each other around while 2 boys stood looking at the clear sky chanting something about the milky way. 

“This is so nice” whispered Barbara

“It is,” said Adam, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. They watched as the 4 kids got torches and started flashing them in the sky, 2 more littler children appeared and it was very entertaining to watch until their parents called them inside. “Barb?” said Adam once the children had reluctantly gone inside 

“Yeah?” said Barbara, resting her head on his shoulder, relaxing more. 

“Thought of having more kids?” Barbara smiled and nodded, wrapping her arms around him further. 

“Definitely” said Barbara “I think Ariana needs friends” there was a single torch beam coming from the house next door and 2 figures appeared.

“Chels, you sure you left it out here?” asked the older girl, moving the torch around. “And hurry up please, these bugs are killing me and i am so scared a spiders gonna murder me”

“Yes,” said the smaller girl. “There” she ran to the water's edge and picked up a small toy, running back to her older sister and together they walked back inside hand in hand. 

“I’m going to miss this,” said Adam. Barbara nodded and kissed his cheek, closing her eyes. “The one thing i will not miss though is the mosquitos”

“And the flies” said Barbara “They’re annoying” they relaxed against each other and it was very peaceful until Delia’s shrill scream made them both jump. Quickly they stood up and walked up to the back verandah where Delia was clutching her chest and breathing heavily. “Are you alright Delia?” asked Barbara

“Yes” said Delia “That lizard over there scared me” she gestured to the small gap in between the air conditioning unit where a sleepy lizard lived. It scared Delia every single time she passed it. “I will not miss that” everyone laughed and settled into a comfortable silence, enjoying the peacefulness the beach had. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! i've been writing this for a long time, sorry if it doesn't make sense (i haven't proof read). i just finished my exams, had all my performances for school and only have 1 more day left of school and then i'm done so hopefully i have more time to write. any requests i am happy to take because i love getting ideas! thanks for reading and being patient with me!


	15. Up to something

“Dad?” Lydia sat down at lunch opposite her father and looked at him straight on. Charles put his fork down and looked back at his daughter with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yes Lydia?” he said, glancing sideways to see what Delia thought of Lydia’s sudden questioning. The woman just smiled at him and focused her gaze on the teenager. 

“Can we get a dog?” 

“Why do you ask that?” asked Charles “You’ve never wanted one before, not since Mr Hops-”

“We don’t talk about Mr Hops” said Lydia, still not liking when the subject of her dead rabbit was brought up. 

“Sorry,” said Charles. “But why the sudden want for a pet?”

“I just think getting a dog would be fun,” said Lydia, grabbing a bread roll and holding it in her hands “Don’t you agree Delia?” she looked at her step mother, knowing she’s love being included and would hopefully side with Lydia.

“I think getting a pet would be super fun” said Delia “although you always struck me as a cat person” she glanced at her fiance “both of you do”

“I do like cats” said Lydia “But I think getting a dog would be fun because it would require me to be up and about even when I didn’t want to”   
“You’ve thought this over haven’t you?” said Charles

“Yes” said Lydia “Because I know you’re stubborn and hard to convince dad. And I know that either Delia would jump at the idea for a pet or side with you, so I’ve thought over it very carefully and I think it would be good for us all, including Beej, to have a dog around. Give us something to focus on, bond over and just love”

“Where is BJ?” asked Charles “I thought you were out together”

“And we were,” said Lydia. “He’s over with Adam and Barbara” 

“We promised to give them some space to have some family time” said Charles, who felt bad about crowding the Maitlands all the time, especially with a new baby. “I should go get him-”

“They invited him over” said Lydia, rolling her eyes “And they don’t mind having us around, they really like it” Charles sunk back into his seat and stabbed a square of potato. “They’re teaching him about table manners, in hope that he won’t eat like an animal on Christmas”

“Why aren’t you there?” asked Charles, knowing Lydia was sometimes the only person the demon would listen to. 

“Barbara knows how to control him now” said Lydia “And he won’t do anything rash with Ariana around.” Having Beetlejuice be exposed to a baby had really helped the demon transition into life with the Deetz and he’d become extremely cautious about everything he did, in fear that he’d upset Ariana. “They’re not spending Christmas with us but they still want Beej to behave well because it’d, and I quote Adam. ‘Ruin the mood’” 

“Right” said Charles “But I still don’t see the need to get a pet, especially a dog” 

“Why?” asked Lydia

“Because they are way too much work. They need to be walked every day, washed a lot, fed and need attention. We are a very busy family and I don’t see us having time for all that” he looked at his daughter, who was frowning at him “I’m sorry Lydia, but I don’t think it’d work. Maybe a cat would be different because they are less needy-”

“Dad” said Lydia “I would be responsible for the dog. I’d look after it and Beej could help”

“I do not trust him with a pet” said Charles

“Dad!” said Lydia “You’ve got to put the past behind you. Beej has changed, we all have. He’s much more aware of the world now. He won’t hurt people just because his emotions get the better of him. Adam and Barbara see it, why don’t you?” Lydia stood up and grabbed another bread roll. 

“Lydia, sit down” said Charles “and put the food down”

“No dad,” said Lydia.

“Lydia, can we talk about this calmly?” asked Delia in a soft gentle voice which made Lydia even more annoyed. Lydia sat back down in her chair and glared at her father, who purposely had his attention fixed on Delia. “Good, now. Do you have a particular dog in mind? Has a friend's dog had puppies or do you know a breeder?”

“I want a dog from an animal shelter”    
“A stray?” asked Delia 

“Yeah” said Lydia. “Because there are way too many dogs and animals in shelters as it is. So why buy an expensive dog from a breeder when you can give a dog that didn’t have a good start to life, a loving home”

“That's very true” said Delia “I fully support that”

“Really?” said Lydia. “Thank you so much Delia” she shot her future step mum a smile. “So, if I randomly found a dog somewhere, would we be able to adopt it?” 

“We’ll see,” said Delia. 

“Thank you” said Lydia, jumping up and walking towards the door. “I’m gonna go see how Beej is doing” Delia nodded and waved goodbye to her. As soon as the door had shut, Delia looked at Charles who was frowning.

“She’s up to something, I can tell”

Lydia walked up the Maitlands front steps and knocked on the door. It was opened by Adam. He smiled at Lydia and let her in, leading her to the kitchen where Beetlejuice was eating a sandwich like a civilised person. Barbara was sitting at the end of the kitchen table reading something on her computer while she burped Ariana. Lydia looked at the scene before her and smiled a genuine happy smile. It looked like a proper family, especially with Beetlejuice in a black t-shirt and jeans instead of his normal filthy suit. Adam must’ve seen her smiling because he put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. Lydia knew this was Adam’s' silent way of telling her that he was proud of her. Lydia leant against Adam’s shoulder and watched as Beetlejuice ate. Neither Barbara or Beetlejuice seemed to notice that Lydia had appeared, and it wasn’t until Ariana started reaching for Adam that Barbara even turned around. 

“Lydia!” said Barbara, looking over and seeing the teenager “When did you get here?”

“5 minutes ago” said Lydia. Barbara got up and handed Ariana to Adam, pulling Lydia into a massive hug. Lydia hugged her back, remembering when her mother used to hug her like that. Lydia didn’t want the hug to end, so she just held onto Barbara for as long as she could. Barbara hugged her back with just as much energy and they only broke apart when Beetlejuice let out a loud burp. “Beetlejuice!” said Barbara in a shocked tone, standing up straight and looking at the demon. Lydia giggled as Barbara shook her head at Beetlejuice, who smiled back at her. Barbara kept her arm around Lydia’s shoulder as she lectured Beetlejuice about burping at the table.

“I’ll try to stop it next time Babs,” said Beetlejuice. He stood up and walked over to Lydia, grabbed her away from Barbara and walked towards the door. “We’ll be back sometime”

“Be careful” said Adam “There’s meant to be snow”

“Snow?” asked Barbara in a worried tone “Maybe you shouldn’t go”

“We’ll be fine” said Lydia “You worry too much” she pulled her arm away from Beetlejuice’s grasp and walked over to Ariana, planting a small kiss on the top of her head. Then she walked back to Beetlejuice and they left the house. They ran down the street together and into the forest like thing near them. They walked for about 5 minutes until they reached a clearing with a small bush by the edge where there was a tiny puppy waiting for them. Lydia got out the two bread rolls she’d taken from lunch and broke one apart, getting the soft inside. She then took her boots off, and sat down on the ground a meter away from the puppy. She put a small bit of bread in the palm of her hand and held it out to the puppy. It cautiously approached her, gently took the bread in its mouth and took it back to the bush, where it ate it. 

“So, what’d Chuck and Darla say about getting a dog?” asked Beetlejuice, also having taken off his shoes and sitting down next to Lydia. 

“Dad didn’t seem so sure about the idea, and actually had the audacity to bring up my dead bunny, which he knows we never talk about. It's a rule we’ve had for years. Mum made it”

“You had a bunny?” asked Beetlejuice 

“Yes, don’t talk about it” said Lydia “But Delia actually liked the idea of adopting a stray so we might actually be able to keep him”

“It's a him?” asked Beetlejuice

“It looks like a him” said Lydia. She broke off more bread and this time put it on her leg. The dog approached it, and ate it off her leg. Lydia touched its back gently and it froze for a second before relaxing into her touch. Beetlejuice put more bread down for the dog while Lydia stroked it. Once one bread roll had been finished, the dog moved away from Lydia and actually curled up in Beetlejuice’s lap, noticeably shivering. Lydia looked out to the clearing and saw snow on the ground. “Beej, it's snowing”

“Oh” Quickly he snapped his fingers and their shoes were on their feet. Then he snapped his fingers again and a blanket appeared with a collar and lead. Gently Lydia slipped the collar around the dog's thin neck and attached the lead to it. Then Beetlejuice wrapped the dog up in the blanket and held the lead in his hands. They got up and started walking back home, the dog in Beetlejuice’s arms. Lydia’s phone started ringing and she answered it.

“Hey dad” she said “Changed your mind about a dog”

“No” said Charles “Lydia, Delia and I have gone to the shops, I trust you have your key. If not there is always the spare key or the Maitlands are home. Please be safe, don’t be stupid. I know snow is meant to come”

“Snow is here,” said Lydia, catching a snowflake on her tongue.

“Please go home”

“Going home now,” said Lydia. “Love you. Bye” she hung up and put her phone away and shoved her hands deep into her pockets, shivering. “Beej, dad and Delia are out. We can go home or we can go to Adam and Barb. I’m freezing and dad doesn’t like me lighting the fire when I’m home alone and the tiny heater we have does nothing, so maybe we should go to Adam and Barbs”

“They won’t like that we have a dog” said Beetlejuice 

“You never know” said Lydia 

“Babs does seem like a dog person,” said Beetlejuice, stroking the poor dog's head as it shivered more. 

“But Adam isn’t” said Lydia 

“Yeah, he’s a cat guy all the way” Beetlejuice looked at Lydia and laughed “And you’re a bunny person!”

“Shut up” said Lydia as they neared the bottom of their street. “Listen, let me do the talking, I am pretty sure I can convince Adam of just about anything-”

“Daddy's girl” teased Beetlejuice 

“-As long as nothing happens to Ariana” continued Lydia “Because if anything is slightly going to hurt that baby, it's out of there” 

“They worry too much” said Beetlejuice 

“My dad was a bit like that when I was little” said Lydia. “Very over protective of me, still is actually he just doesn’t show it as much. He became more relaxed as I got older but if I ever came home with a boyfriend, then we’ll see just how protective he is” they reached Adam and Barbara’s house and Lydia knocked on the door. “Beej remember, let me do the talking” she turned back just as the door opened.

“Lydia! BJ! Come in!” said Barbara, ushering them inside “You’ve got snow all over your selves…” She trailed off as she saw what was in Beetlejuice’s arms. “Why do you have a dog?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!   
> Thanks so much for reading, it means a lot. You guys are so sweet and kind and I love each comment I receive, they make me smile a lot.   
> I hope you all are well and happy! I hope you have an amazing day/night/time of day!   
> Peace out ✌️
> 
> ps. haven't proof read this, oops!


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